


After Eden

by BigFootGirl



Series: Eden [2]
Category: From Eden - Hozier (Music Video), Hozier - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Family, Foster Care, From Eden, Gen, Hozier, Implied Child Abuse, Mentions of Prison, court trials, mentions of incarceration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2018-04-08 06:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 8,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4293840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigFootGirl/pseuds/BigFootGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place a few months after "Briefly in Eden." Tate wants to help Katie and Andy. Or at least write them a letter to let them know that he's thinking good thoughts for them.</p><p>Written from a child's third person POV in some spots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Solving the Problem

**Author's Note:**

> I originally intended to only write “Briefly in Eden” as 3 chapters and end it there. The muses and plot bunnies have decided differently.

Tate had begged – BEGGED – his social worker and the cops who came by to check up on him to let him go to Katie and Andy’s trial. He had seen enough Law & Order reruns to know that he could totally save them if the judge and jury heard how nice they had been to him. If only the grown-ups now in his life would listen to him!

Grown-ups never wanted to know what kids thought, that’s what Shawn, one of the other kids in his newest foster home, had told him. But Shawn was smart, and he had a library card that let him use the library’s computers and internet service, and he liked Tate. He’d told Tate this after the first week of sharing a room. Also, Shawn was a teenager and could probably get around the adults’ plan to exclude Tate from everything that was happening to Andy and Katie.

Yes, this would work.

“We’re going to the library!” Shawn called to Mrs. Coelho, their foster-mother.

“Who’s ‘we’?” the sprightly older woman asked as she rounded the corner to face the door and her oldest and youngest children.

“Me and Tate. I promised him I’d help him get a library card today.”

“Really?”

“ We’ve got everything we need for one! See?” Tate showed her the report card with his name and the Coelhos’ address on the front of the card.

“Don’t forget your IDs.”

“We’ve got ‘em. Don’t worry! Got a bus to catch; be back in a few hours!”

“Bye, Mrs. C!”

The two boys ran out the door before she could remind them to get receipts for whatever materials they checked out of the library. She shook her head. Those two were as thick as thieves.

 

“Are you sure we’ll find out where they are?” Tate asked Shawn as they hurried towards the bus shelter two blocks from the house.

“There should be some article online about where they were sent before their trial. Don’t worry; at the very least we can find out who their lawyers are and send the letter to them.”

“Okay,” Tate agreed as the boys fished out their passes for the arriving bus. He hoped this would work out. It had to!


	2. The First Step

Thirty-three minutes after leaving their house, Tate and Shawn arrived at the county library. While the library near their house would have been perfectly acceptable, Shawn had wanted to go to the county library because the computers were faster and Mr. Jain, the reference librarian, was sympathetic to kids doing research.

“We’ll go to the main desk first, so you can get your card, then we’ll head over to reference. If we can’t find anything on the internet, we can ask Mr. Jain for help. Just don’t tell anyone _why_ you want to read about the ‘Irish Bandits,’” Shawn told him as they entered the massive modern building, using the moniker the press had given Katie  & Andy.

“Okay,” Tate answered as he clung to Shawn’s hand in the unfamiliar building. Mrs. Coelho had told him that if he was in a strange place, to hold someone’s hand so he didn’t get lost.

While he was a grand 8 years of age (Katie had exclaimed this when he’d told her), he had never been around so many people in such a large building before, and the courthouse after Katie & Andy’s arrest didn’t count because most of the people there were cops and lawyers. The county library had a tour occurring right as they arrived, plus it was the de facto library for the college a few block away and the county courthouse and administrative buildings in the opposite direction.

As they approached the main desk, Tate was suddenly struck by the fact that he hadn’t had a library card since his parents had died. He’d gone to the library every week with his parents, and had just gotten his own library card the week before the car accident that had killed them. Tate shivered a bit.

“Yeah, this is the best place to be in the summer when it’s hot, but it’s freezing until they turn the heater on in December,” Shawn told him before getting the attention of the librarian behind the desk.

“Yes, my dears?” she asked, peering at the boys from behind her thick Buddy Holly-style glasses.

“My brother would like to apply for a library card, Miss Duffy,” Shawn told her, gesturing to Tate.

“I see. Do you have some form of identification plus something with your name and address on it, young man?”

Tate mutely nodded before handing her his school ID and report card for the first quarter of school. He was always shy around new people.

“Mr. Tate Mackey. And you achieved all A’s first quarter. Congratulations!” She opened a drawer to her left and reached inside, pulling out a plastic white and purple card. She scanned the barcode on the card’s back before placing it on the lower desk to her right where there was a jar of pens, speaking to Tate as she went. “If you could please either write or sign your name in the white rectangle, I will fill out your virtual information.”

Taking a pen from the jar, Tate looked at the small space she had indicated and decided that, while he could sign his name (his mom had taught him cursive writing), it might be more legible if he simply wrote out “TATE MACKEY” in capital letters. Once he was done, Shawn took some tape from the dispenser and placed it over Tate’s name. Miss Duffy turned from her computer to the boys.

“You are now able to check out any book you want from any of the county’s libraries, Tate. You may also use any available computer terminal for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time, unless you are doing homework in a children’s area. Do you understand?”

Tate nodded, told her “yes,” and thanked her before Shawn ushered him over to the stairs at the end of the room that led to the research library.

“We’re lucky it was Miss Duffy and not Mr. Kershaw. He doesn’t like kids.”

“Then why’s he a librarian?”

“No clue.”


	3. Research!

“Ah, Shawn. What are you looking for today?” A tall man of Indian descent asked as Tate and Shawn entered the research library. His ID tag said his name was Vik.

“Hey, Mr. Jain. This is my brother, Tate. He wanted to know about Ireland, and I told him that the research library was the best place to look since your computers are hooked up to the research databases on top of the library & internet stuff.”

“This is true. What do you want to find out, specifically, Tate?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll know it when I find it,” he answered, hoping Mr. Jain didn't find out that he was mentally crossing his fingers.

Mr. Jain laughed. “That’s a good answer. I’ll leave the showing around to you, then, Shawn. Have fun and follow the rules.”

“Thanks, Mr. Jain. Come on, the computers are around the corner.”

Shawn led Tate to a series of cubby desks, each with its own computer and blank quarter sheets of paper. Grabbing a second chair, Tate pulled it up and sat down while Shawn explained everything that he needed to do to find out what he needed.

“So what are their names?” Shawn asked him, fishing out a pen from behind the monitor.

“Andy McLeary and Katie O’Brien. They’re from…I think it’s called…County Wicklow?”

Shawn wrote down the information while waiting for the internet to come up. The computers at the county library may be faster, but they were still slow.

Twenty minutes, and many wrong or inaccurate articles later, Shawn pulled up Daily Cactus, a small newspaper barely in circulation in San Bernardino County. “This them?” he asked Tate as their mug shots came up on the screen.

“Yes!” he cried before covering his mouth, remembering that he was in a library.

“Okay, looks like Katherine Jane O’Brien is at California Institution for Women. Huh, my Aunt Laurie did time there. Oh, and Andrew Patrick McLeary is at Corcoran. Wow, look at these charges. And they include endangering the welfare of a minor. You didn’t tell me that they endangered you!”

Tate was reading the article alongside Shawn. “They didn’t endanger me! What does that mean?”

“It means that they put you in danger, or in dangerous situations. All these charges, they’ll probably get 40 years combined.

“They didn’t put me in danger! They saved me! The Mercers are the ones that forgot me at their house when they left!”

“Okay! Chill! I’m just reading what the article says! Look, we’ll print it out. It’s got the prosecutor listed and the prisons they’re at. You can write them letters, your friends and the prosecutor. I’ve written a couple to lawyers before, I’ll help you.

“You will?”

“Cross my heart.” Shawn gestured over his chest as he spoke. “Let’s get the addresses, get some books from the kids and teens sections, and then we’ll go home. We can work on the letter to the prosecutor after dinner or tomorrow, and then we’ll mail it on Monday after school. Sound good?”

“Yeah.” It sounded much more planned then what Tate had been thinking of doing, and if Shawn really did know how to write to lawyers, it could sound better than anything Tate could come up with. It was most definitely a plan Tate could undertake.


	4. Lists and Letters

That night after dinner, Shawn helped Tate to compile three lists: one for Katie, one for Andy, and one for prosecutor Lee Morrison.  Each list contained the things Tate wanted each adult to know.

To Katie and Andy, it was all the things he had learned at his new school, all of the people he had met since he’d last seen them, and how much he missed them. Tate also decided that an apology was necessary, since he hadn’t written to them before now (“Just put it on the list, we’ll write it all out tomorrow!” Shawn had told him).

The list for Lee Morrison’s letter, however, contained all of the bad things that had happened to Tate before Katie & Andy had found him, the good things that had happened to him while in their company, and the truth behind some of the robberies Andy had committed. Tate had been trying to follow their story after bed when he asked Mr. Coelho if he could read the funnies before he went to sleep; while his foster-father was busy looking for the right page, Tate would hide the statewide news page in the sports section he “had promised Shawn” he’d bring. Mr. Coelho had been so delighted that some of the children in his care wanted to read an actual newspaper that he hadn’t even noticed other sections missing.

Sunday, after the Coelhos and their assembled children, grandchildren, and foster children had returned from church (“We want you to be able to talk to people from all walks of life!” was what Mrs. Coelho had told him when asked about having to go), Shawn and Tate sat down and began writing out the letter to Lee Morrison.

Tate felt that he’d made some good points, and given enough detail, that the prosecutor would _have_ to be nice to Katie and Andy. He knew that they’d done some bad things, but he wanted to be able to see them again someday. Once this letter was written, Shawn took it to type up on the computer, telling Tate that he could sign it once it was printed.

Tate thought this was a good idea, and Shawn left him to write his two remaining letters. He didn’t want these to be typed up because they were personal and he didn’t want Shawn to read what he’d written.

Shawn checked on him two hours later. “How’s it goin’?”

Tate jumped, having been absorbed in his letter to Andy that he hadn’t heard Shawn come in. “It’s almost finished.”

“Take your time. I wrote the envelopes out, and the one to Morrison is already in its envelope; just needs to be sealed.”

“Thank you. Is it okay that I told them to write your name if they are too afraid to write my name?”

“When they write back? Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks for letting me know.”

“You’re welcome.”

Shawn put the two remaining envelopes on the desk next to Tate and silently exited. He figured Tate would either be finished by dinner or he’d be lending him a flashlight again that night. An hour later, Tate was finished with both letters and Shawn helped him fold them and stuff them into the envelopes before putting all three into Shawn’s backpack to be dropped off on the way home from school the next day.

Tate could barely sleep that night, excitement and worry keeping him up until Shawn threw a pillow at his head and told him to stop keeping him up all night. He hoped someone would write back to him, and he hoped it would be nice. While the Coelhos didn’t make them pray before bed, he fervently hoped that there wouldn’t be any trouble with the letters and that, if there really was someone listening to his thoughts and hopes, they could make everything good.


	5. Everyone Likes Getting Mail

Tate nervously waited every day after school as the other kids in the house were handed their mail. There was never any for him, except for the occasional flyer from the library about events they thought he might enjoy.

He would stare at Shawn as the older boy looked through the various envelopes addressed to him, but there was never anything from either the California Institute for Women or Corcoran State Prison. There was once a letter from San Bernardino County, but it was just a reminder that Shawn needed to pay a fine incurred earlier in the year.

One month after they had sent the letters, an envelope addressed from the California Institute for Women arrived for Shawn. He briefly thought about teasing young Tate, but decided against it when he saw the little boy's eyes light up when Mrs. Coelho asked him about it. Since there was no indication as to who had sent it from the prison, Shawn had told her that it was probably from his aunt's former cellmate, a nice women who had made one mistake that had cost her freedom, and that she had once asked if he would be okay with writing or receiving the occasional letter. A sizable number of people in Shawn's life had been to prison, and many of his letters were from those still incarcerated, so the lie had made sense.

The two practically raced to their room, where, once the door was closed, Shawn handed the envelope to Tate. He carefully opened the cheap paper and removed the even cheaper sheet, before reading over it.

"Good news?" Shawn asked once he'd put the paper down.

"She says that it feels safer to write your name on them and she's happy that I'm doing good. She hasn't gotten anything from Andy, but the lawyers are talking to them for each other."

He handed the letter to his roommate. "I don't know what this word means," he said, pointing to the word "intentions."

"Intentions means their plans. She says that the court is telling them that they didn't have anything good planned for you," he explained as he handed the letter back.

"But that's wrong! They saved me! The Mercers are the ones with the bad intentions!" Tate began to stomp around in his socks.

"Well, they obviously didn't read your letter to Lee Morrison. And you haven't gotten anything from him yet. It might be in a pile of other letters."

"Or he thinks I'm lying!"

"Why would he think you're lying? I thought you told the cops that they were nice to you."

"I did. And they said they'd write it down. But no one is listening!"

"I'm listening. Let's talk to Mrs. C."

"Why? You said we shouldn't."

"I said we shouldn't tell them about Katie and Andy. Tell them that you want to talk to the lawyer in charge of their case. Tell them we wrote him a letter, but you want to make sure that he understands all the facts."

Tate thought this over. Shawn had a point, it wasn't wrong for him to write the letters. And he was a part of the case, even if no one agreed. He needed to tell the lawyer everything that had happened! Tate made up his mind and opened the bedroom door, walking to the kitchen to talk to Mrs. Coelho.

She wasn't thrilled with the knowledge that the two boys had secretly written a letter. She wouldn't have minded the letter-writing if they had only told her first, so that at least she would be prepared if something official were suddenly sent. When Mr. Coelho came home from work, they talked it over privately before dinner. After dinner, they decided that they would take Tate to see the lawyer the next week.

They sat Tate down and gave him their decision.

"What day are we going?"

"We'll call his office tomorrow and let them know that we intend to talk to him next week. It will be up to his schedule when we can see him, okay?"

Tate agreed with their decision and happily finished his math homework without complaint. He was finally going to have the chance to tell the law people his side of what happened!


	6. Disappointment is Never Easy

When Tate and the Coelhos returned home the following Tuesday, they all felt that nothing had truly been accomplished. While Lee Morrison had listened politely to Tate as the boy explained the circumstances surrounding his being taken in by Katie and Andy, the prosecutor had dismissed any notion of dropping any of the charges against the pair of robbers involving Tate.

“How’d it go?” Shawn asked when they walked into the house.

“Not well,” Mr. Coelho told him as Tate ran to his and Shawn’s room. Shawn followed soon after.

“He didn’t believe me!” Tate cried to the older boy once Shawn had closed the bedroom door.

“How do you know that? Maybe he just thought that everything that happened was too serious to drop the charges.”

“But they didn’t do anything bad to me! They didn’t hurt me, or forget that I was there! They were nice, and they let me call them ‘Mum’ and ‘Da’’ like people do in Ireland!”

Shawn sat down on Tate’s bed. “Really? They were like your parents?”

“Yes! They made me go to bed at 9 every night! And I had to help make sure we put all the dishes away before we left! And they had to all be clean! And Andy taught me how to read a map, but Katie said he was rubbish at navigating and…” Tate trailed off as he finally broke into tears. “…and it isn’t fair that Lee Morrison is saying that they hurt me or put me in danger because they didn’t! The Mercers left me, but Katie and Andy didn’t leave me until the sheriffs came and took us all away!” Tate buried his face into his pillow, a final, muffled “It’s not fair!” barely heard through the layers of fabric and fiber-fill.

Shawn, by now used to watching other kids get upset, simply patted Tate’s shoulder. “Something good will probably happen. You’ll see, kid.” Shawn stood and quietly left their room to help Mrs. Coelho prepare that night’s dinner, as stated by the jobs chart. He wasn’t going to tell anyone that he had convinced her to switch his and Tate’s days when she’d made the week’s chart up on Saturday.


	7. There's Always Some Kind of Silver Lining

Another month passed after the disastrous meeting with Lee Morrison. Tate had written another pair of letters to Katie and Andy, telling them everything that had happened since he’d last written, including the meeting with Morrison. He apologized for not succeeding in getting some of the charges against them dropped, and asked how they were both doing.

A month after sending the letters, there was an envelope in the mail addressed to Tate and the Coelhos from Corcoran State Prison. This was odd. He hadn’t heard anything directly from Andy, only what Katie had told him in her letters, as told to her by her attorney. Tate practically jumped on Mr. Coelho when he returned home that night, eager to find out what the mysterious letter was about. Mrs. Coelho opened the envelope and took out a sheaf of official prison stationary from which Mr. Coelho, a lawyer in his own right, read aloud.

“ _Dear Mr. and Mrs. Coelho and Mr. Mackey, An inmate at our penitentiary, Mr. Andrew McLeary, has informed me that he wishes to add Tate Mackey to his list of official visitors. I have recently spoken with the prosecutor in charge of his case, Mr. Lee Morrison, as well as Mr. McLeary’s lawyers with regards to this matter. I understand that Mr. Mackey has been quite persistent in his defense of Mr. McLeary and his co-defendant with regards to their treatment of him during their brief acquaintance. I have also spoken with Shirley Vassey, Mr. Mackey’s social worker, about this matter. After some thought, with regards to the inmate’s crimes as well as Mr. Mackey’s young age and the input of Miss Vassey, I have decided to allow supervised visits between Mr. McLeary and Mr. Mackey. As of December 1 of this year, Mr. Mackey may visit on pre-arranged days with Mr. McLeary._

 _Any further questions or inquiries into this matter may be Emailed to myself or_...blah-blah, usual grown-up things.”

Tate’s eyes lit up when the Coelhos confirmed that he would finally be allowed to see Andy. He was so excited! This excitement continued for the rest of the week when a second letter, also addressed to Tate and his foster parents, arrived from the California Institute for Women. The second letter confirmed that Tate would also be allowed to visit with Katie, as of December 1, with the same requirements as the letter from Corcoran. It would be the best Christmas present he could ever hope for in his new life!

When Tate told Shawn the news, the older boy high-fived him. “That’s awesome! Do you know when you’ll get to see them?”

“Mrs. C. said they need to talk to Shirley. And Mr. C. said he talked to Lee Morrison again. They found the Mercers and they’re in big trouble for leaving me. He’s going to drop the danger charges.”

“Endangerment; so that’s great news! Unless you’re the Mercers.”

“Mr. C. said I might have to go to court and tell a judge what happened when the Mercers left.”

“I hope they go away forever, little dude.”

“Me, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know about such things as the letters, I just thought it would make for a nice story.


	8. Courtrooms Aren't Fun

Tate was nervous. He had never had to talk in a courtroom before. Shawn told him it wasn’t a big deal once you’d done it a few times.  Bethany Roberts, the lawyer prosecuting the Mercers, had taken him through all the steps for when he had to talk in front of everyone and answer questions. AND he’d gotten to see Katie and Andy twice in a month! He felt that that made everything better, even if he wasn’t allowed to talk to them until after all three of them had spoken in court.

He had told the judge and Bethany about the day the Mercers had left, and the days after when he had found himself having to fend for himself, even though he was only 8 at the time. He had already had a birthday, and was now “a strapping 9” (Katie’s words). He had gotten to see Katie and Andy a couple of times already, and they had both sent him letters for his birthday.

“And can you tell us what happened after Katie and Andy came into the Mercers’ house?” Bethany Roberts asked him.

Tate nodded his head. “Uh-huh. They found me in my hiding spot in the closet, and after I came out, they gave me an apple and a bottle of water. They asked me why I was alone and I told them, but I was really tired, so they tucked me into bed.  Katie said they would see me in the morning and I fell asleep.”

“Were they there the next morning?”

“Yes. They took me with them and we got breakfast at McDonald’s and Katie bought me some new clothes and we got more fruit and gum.”

“That was very nice of them. Thank you for telling us what happened, Tate. No further questions.”

Tate liked that Bethany (“Ms. Roberts is my aunt,” she had told him) had asked him all the questions that she had asked when they were practicing. He did not, however, like Mr. Mulwray, the Mercers’ lawyer. Mr. Mulwray asked him the same questions, but in backwards, and kept asking him why he hadn’t gone to a neighbor. Tate had already told Bethany that he didn’t like the Mercers’ neighbors; they hadn’t been very nice to him when he arrived and their children had been just as mean.

Finally, after Bethany kept objecting to Mr. Mulwray’s questions, Tate was allowed to leave the courtroom. Mrs. C. gave him a big hug and Mr. C. promised hamburgers on the way home. Tate wished Shawn had been allowed to come, but it was a school day and all of the other kids were still at school.

The highlight of the day had been when Andy, who had been called to talk that day in court, came out of the courtroom and the policeman-person had let Andy and Tate talk. Tate ran up to the tall man, who picked him up and gave him a bear hug while asking about school until the three of them were back with the Coelhos and Lee Morrison, who had been watching them in court. Katie, who had left the courtroom at the same time as Lee Morrison soon joined them with her policewoman-person (Mr. C. had told him that they were corrections officers, not police, but it hadn’t made much sense to him) and Tate had been permitted to give her a hug, too. It was nice to hug them without the handcuffs in the way again.

When Bethany and Mr. Mulwray had left the courtroom, Bethany came over and told them that they would be called when they next needed to be in court, and soon Katie and Andy were taken away to go back to their prisons. Bethany walked out of the courthouse with them, shaking the Coelhos’ hands before bending down and thanking Tate once again for telling in court what had happened to him. She then left them, and Mr. C. took them to a diner nearby for hamburgers.


	9. The People v. Mercer and Mercer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, but here's chapter 9. I hope it's not too horrible.

One day after their final court appearances in the case against the Mercers, the Coelhos got a call from Bethany Roberts.

“The jury has made a decision in the case against the Mercers,” Mr. Coelho had told him.

Tate asked if this meant that he’d be seeing Katie and Andy again, but Mrs. Coelho explained that it only meant that Tate’s former foster parents would find out if they were going to prison or not. Katie and Andy wouldn’t be there because they were only witnesses and it cost money every time they were brought from their prisons. Tate frowned when he heard this, despite having seen the two robbers last week at their preliminary hearing (Tate hadn’t been allowed to talk to them, but he and Katie exchanged little waves and Andy bobbed his head). Shawn explained to him later that the county doesn’t like spending money, especially when it’s for criminals who aren’t being tried for the court case they’re attending.

Shawn went straight to their foster parents when Tate told him about the call. “Are you going to hear the jury’s decision? We don’t have school tomorrow, so it’s not like he’s going to miss more class. And I want to see what kind of mean people would abandon a little kid!”

The Coelhos looked to each other and then to the two boys; Becca and Shenae, the other foster kids currently living with them, looked at their foster parents inquisitively. Finally, Mr. C. spoke, “Yes, we can all go to the trial tomorrow.” There were joyous sounds and whoops from the four kids; they all liked the idea of bad foster parents going away. “But,” he cautioned, “We will all be quiet, courteous, and respectful of the Court and its decision, even if it’s something that we don’t like. Is that understood?” Everyone assembled agreed. Even if the Mercers got off light (and they all hoped that this horrible couple wouldn’t), it would be like a field trip for them.

Everyone likes a good field trip.

* * *

 

While they weren’t wearing their Sunday best, the four Coelho foster children made sure that they looked nice for such an important occasion. Shawn even combed his hair! (Although Shenae told him that she didn’t see a difference.)

They sat in the first row with Miss Vassey the social worker, behind Bethany who had smiled and waved to them when she saw them walk in the courtroom.

“I see today’s a family affair,” Bethany said as they seated themselves.

“The children wouldn’t have it any other way,” Mrs. Coelho replied.

The bailiff told everyone to stand for the judge, who then told everyone to sit. Judge Chen turned to the jury and asked the foreman for their verdict. He stated that for each of the charges, including endangering the welfare of a minor, abandoning a child in their care, and not informing the Children and Family Services of their change of address and intention to leave the county, they were guilty. They were also forbidden from ever being foster parents in San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties ever again.

Tate stopped listening after the verdict was read. He was too busy grinning from ear to ear.

When they got home (after getting burgers with Bethany and Miss Vassey), Tate immediately went to his room to write to Katie and Andy and tell them the news. He was still worried about their trial, and thought they might be, too, and so he hoped that the news about the Mercers would make them happy. Once his letters were written, and the envelopes addressed, he went to Mrs. Coelho for stamps.

“Did you tell them the verdict?” she asked as she got out two Forever stamps from the stamp tin.

“Uh-huh! And I told them about the ‘A’ I got on my spelling test and about Stinky!” (Stinky was the Coelhos’ new cat, who did not smell in the least, but the name stuck.)

“Well that should brighten up their day. Here you are, two stamps.” Tate thanked her, placed a stamp on each envelope, and handed them over to be mailed in the morning.

Tate was still buzzing when he went to bed.

“Will you cut it out! Some of us want to sleep!” Shawn told him as he threw a stuffed dinosaur at the younger boy.

“Sorry Shawn!” Tate tried to sleep that night, but he was just SO happy! Until he remembered that he still had to get through the case against Katie and Andy. That thought made him a bit sad. He turned off the lamp next to his bed, and prayed to whoever was listening that good things would happen from then on.


	10. Letters - Katie

“O’Brien, you got mail,” Corrections Officer Daniels tells Katie one day. As always, the envelope has been opened and she can see a photo sticking out.

“Who’s it from?” her latest cellmate, Bertha Contreras, asks.

“My little boy,” Katie proudly answers, showing Bertha the birthday photo Tate had mailed her two months ago. Katie liked Bertha, far more than she liked Wendy, her last cellmate. Bertha was a mom and in prison for tax evasion (amongst other charges) and a mother herself. Wendy had been a drug dealer and just the tiniest bit scary.

“I didn’t know you had kids.”

“Just the one, and not officially, either.”

“I know how that goes,” Bertha nodded.

Katie nodded back, before reading Tate’s letter. The photo was of Stinky, the cat the Coelhos had let the kids adopt from the shelter. She had a problem with one of her eyes, so Shawn had called her Stinky because “She gives you the stink-eye.” Katie laughed as she read. Soon, however, she started to tear up as she read the part about the Mercers’ trial. Of course she had already heard about the verdict; she had practically badgered her lawyer to keep her in the loop. But it still mattered to her that Tate had decided to give her his version of events.

“Listen to this:

_Dear Mum,_

_This is Stinky. She’s our new cat, and she now has a forever home. We call her ‘Stinky’ because one of her eyes doesn’t work right, and Shawn says that it looks like she’s giving you the stink-eye, but she’s not. She’s nicer than that cat we saw in Joshua Tree. Remember the one? He had that crooked tale and would hiss. But Stinky’s not like that. I think you would like her…_ ”

Katie handed Bertha the photo.

“Kid’s right. Cat looks like she’s givin’ ya the ol’ stink-eye.”

“Yeah. How’re your lot doing?” Katie asked as she took back the photo.

Bertha read the letter she’d gotten. “Marta just lost another tooth and she’s worried she’ll lose all of them before they grow back. Marcos hit a home run, but they lost the game and he’s mad.”

The two women went back to their individual correspondence, and later that night, Katie went to bed with dreams of stink-eyed cats and strapping young lads with proper spelling.


	11. Letters - Andy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is 1 swear word in this chapter, so I've changed the rating.

“McLeary, mail.” Andy looked up from his book to see the opened envelope among his bi-weekly letters. As he rifled through the stack of three envelopes, the corner of a photo caught his eye. Written on the back, in Tate’s familiar 9-year-old cursive, was “ _Tate and Stinky._ ” Andy allowed himself a small smile, just as some of the scarier residents walked past.

“What’s that smile for, Paddy?” A big tattooed man called Franco asked. Andy, despite the charges against him regarding Tate being dropped, was still one of the lower-residing inmates.

Deciding to just say it before he got beaten up, he answered, “My kid and his cat. D’you like cats, Franco?”

Franco just glared. “You mean that kid you kidnapped?”

“Rescued, Franco. And his foster parents who abandoned him just got 5 years each. Does this cat look like a ‘Stinky’ to you?” Andy asked as he showed the others the cat.

“Eye’s all mess up, looks like he’s glarin’ at you, Franco,” a smaller guy known as “Biggo” said.

“Hmph,” was Franco’s only response before turning around and walking away. His pack followed him.

“I thought those charges got dropped?” Chester, an older man and lifer, asked.

“They did, but Franco still thinks I’m shit.”

“Well that’s just Franco. I don’t think he likes that you’re still prettier than him, even after that beat-down last week.”

“Eh, maybe. Who cares about him, though. My boy got an ‘A’ on his spelling test and got all of the words right.”

“Good fer him!” Chester replied. The two went back to their letters, and tried to ignore all of the other men.

 


	12. Prelude to the Trial

Six months after Andy and Katie had been arrested and Tate had been sent to the Coelhos’ house, the trial against the two adults dubbed the “Irish Bandits” by the press began in full. Tate was scheduled to be one of the first witnesses for the defense, and it was making him anxious.

“Will you quit moving, Kid? How am I supposed to make you look all dignified and grown-up if you keep fidgeting?” Shawn asked as he styled Tate’s hair with a comb and gel.

“Sorry Shawn! I’m just really, really worried! What if they go away forever and I never ever get to see them again? It would be horrible!” Tate replied as he tried to sit still.

“Not as horrible as if they got executed,” Xavi, their newest foster sibling and roommate, said from behind his book.

Shawn glared at him while patting Tate’s shoulder. “Don’t talk about that kinda stuff, man! Tate’s still a little kid. And besides, they didn’t commit any crimes that mean death! There, all proper,” Shawn said as he smoothed Tate’s hair down before wiping his hands on the towel he had thrown over his shoulder when they’d started.

Tate sent his own glare to Xavi before thanking Shawn and going to Mr. Coelho for help with his tie.

“Well, don’t you look grown-up!” Mrs. Coelho exclaimed when Tate came out of his room, tie in hand, to ask for Mr. C’s help with his tie. If he was going to do this, he was going to go all out and look as proper and grown-up as possible when he told the court about his week with Andy and Katie.

Tate gave her a tight smile. He didn’t like that the first people to care about him since his parents’ death were in trouble. He liked the Coelhos well enough; he just wanted to be with Katie and Andy more.

“I can’t do this right? Can you help me, Mr. C?” he asked, holding out the light blue tie that Katie had bought him during their adventure (“Every boy needs a good tie, Tate. And look, it’s the same blue as your eyes!” she had said when she showed it to him at the store. Andy had just smiled).

“Of course, Tate. You’ll look very official in court this morning,” he replied as they moved over to the mirror in the hallway, Tate in front of the adult, the tie being carefully adjusted before Mr. Coelho began the process of tying it into a half-Windsor knot. “You only need the full-Windsor knot for funerals and morning suits, Tate,” he said as he carefully fixed and straightened the cheap imitation silk.

“I hope there’s no funeral after,” Tate mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Thank you, Mr. Coelho.”

“You’re welcome, Tate. Are you almost ready to go?”

Tate nodded in reply before running back to his room for the comb Andy had given him (“A man should always have a comb on him, Tate. You never know when you’ll need to impress,” he’d said. Tate had never seen Andy use a comb, but he figured it was one of those important things you have when you’re a grown-up). He and Shawn walked back out; Shawn would be going with them “for moral support” (it didn’t hurt that it was spring break and this would be the most exciting thing Shawn had done in a while).

“So, we’re ready?” Mr. Coelho asked the boys.

“Yep!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. We’ll be back by 6,” Mr. Coelho told his wife before kissing her goodbye.

Mrs. Coelho gave both boys a hug, Tate’s being just a bit longer, before ushering them to the door. “All right. Be good, and remember what you practiced with the lawyers, okay Tate? Shawn, thank you for supporting him.”

“It’s nothin’, Mrs. C. I know how much it sucks having to talk in court about people you like.”

“Nevertheless, thank you for helping him. We’ll see you at dinner, alright? Good? Good.” And with that, the three were ushered out the front door, Mr. Coelho unlocking his car and giving his wife one final wave before they got in the car, buckled up, and drove off.

“He’ll be fine,” she murmured to herself as she walked back inside and closed the door. “He’ll do well, and it will all be fine.”


	13. In the Courthouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know a whole lot about court procedures, and even less about those involving children as witnesses. Please be kind.

It was a “media circus” according to Mr. C, as they had been escorted through a side door into the courthouse, past the reporters and the supporters of the “Irish Bandits.” According to the internet, once people had found out about Tate and Katie & Andy rescuing him, people from all over had started supporting them. Becca said that people were caught up in the romanticism of two criminal lovers and the child they had adopted as their own.

Shawn and Mr. Coelho waited outside the courtroom with Tate while he waited to be called in to give his testimony. He was more nervous now than when he’d had to talk at the Mercers’ trial. "You'll do good, Tato," Shawn assured him, using the nickname Tate had picked up at school that year.

"You think so?"

"I know so. You're dressed to impress, you've been practicing what you'll say non-stop. Even Xavi has your answers memorized!"

"But what if the jury doesn't like what I say? What if they don't believe me?"

"Then that's on them. Remember, Tate, this is your version of what happened, no one else's. What's important is that you tell them the whole truth. Answer the lawyers' questions as truthfully as you can, even if you're not sure how to answer. Just take your time, take a breath, and speak from your heart and head. Whatever happens after is not up to you; you will have done everything in your power, and that is all anyone can ask," Mr. Coelho replied.

"Okay. Thank you!" Tate said, breathing deeply to calm himself.

"Tate Mackey?" a bailiff called out into the hall. Tate turned around. "They're ready for you."

"Thank you," Mr. Coelho answered as he and Shawn walked with Tate to the courtroom door. Before going in, Mr. C turned to the young boy, "Remember, the truth as you know it. No lies. If you don't know something, ask for the question in another way or simply say you don't know. They won't fault you for it." Tate nodded, before the three entered the courtroom with the bailiff. He could do this. He _would_ do this!


	14. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tate has to answers questions in court!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Mira for your feedback!

Mr. Coelho walked with Tate and the bailiff to the gate that separated the participants from the spectators, before taking a seat next to Shawn as the bailiff led Tate to the stand. He took Mr. C’s advice to heart, taking a deep breath as he sat down in the chair provided. The bailiff raised the seat so that Tate’s face was in full view of the court. He could do this; he just needed to tell the truth. Spotting Katie and Andy, who gave him smiles from their seats on the defendant side of the room made him feel better; he knew what he had to do.

Once the lawyers began asking him their questions, he found that he like criminal court even less than family court. Katie’s lawyer, Mrs. Trumbull, asked him how it had felt when he woke up the next morning and discovered that Katie & Andy were still in the house.

“Happy,” was his answer.

“Why did that make you happy?”

“Because all the other grown-ups left me: Mommy and daddy died. The police lady that took me to the police station left me with the social worker. The social worker left me with the Mercers. And the Mercers left me at their house. Katie and Andy didn’t leave me until the other police put them in their cars.”

All of the questions that Mrs. Trumbull and Mr. Chen asked Tate in court were just like the questions that Mr. C and his lawyer friend had asked him when they were preparing for his court appearance. Eventually Mrs. Trumbull and Mr. Chen (Andy’s lawyer) had finished questioning him and the judge told everyone that they could go home for the day and that they would return in the morning for more questions.

Tate had been told that he wouldn’t be able to hug Katie or Andy, but he was allowed to give them a small wave as he, Mr. Coelho, and Shawn were escorted from the courtroom. Katie blew him a kiss and Andy gave him a head nod of approval and encouragement, like Tate had seen older boys give to each other, and it made him feel better than he thought he would.

“You did really well, Tate,” Mr. Coelho told him as they drove home.

It had been hard, answering questions about the people he cared about, but he knew it was one of the most important things he would ever do for the rest of his life.

“Really?”

“You were awesome, man! I’ve been questioned in court before, and it totally sucks…eggs, but you were great! You sounded like you knew what you were saying, and that’s totally important, right Mr. C?” Shawn asked as he gave Tate a fist bump from the front seat.

“That’s right. Just remember, though, that today were the easy questions. Tomorrow is the hard part, answering the prosecution’s questions. So, early bedtime, right?”

“Yep!”

* * *

 

His foster father was right. The prosecution’s questions the next day made Tate feel like he might start crying at any moment. They tried to make it sound like Katie and Andy didn’t have his best interests at heart; like he was just a hostage, or worse, someone that they were just using.

Tate did his best to answer every question. He was almost tripped up a few times, but he remembered to ask that they repeat the troublesome questions in a simpler way.

At the end of the questioning, the judge announced that they were finished for the day. She thanked Tate for answering all of the questions and told him that he could step down. The bailiff helped him down from the chair, just as he had done the day before, and escorted him back to the gate.

This time he was allowed to briefly speak with Katie and Andy, as there would not be any more questioning of him.

“Tate! Look at you! You look so smart!” Katie cried out as she saw him.

“Very smart, indeed,” Andy agreed.

“And look!” Tate opened his mouth in a huge grin and pointed to a gap in his smile. “I lost one of the big ones!” Tate said.

“So you did! When did that happen?” Katie asked.

“Last week. Shawn helped me tie a string around it and the door knob and then he closed the door and it came out! It was really wiggly but really stubborn,” he explained.

“I see.”

“Tate,” Mr. Coelho said as the officers stood by the table, “it’s time to go.”

“Oh, okay. Can we hug?” he asked the officers. They looked to each other, whispered briefly, and turned back to Tate, nodding in unison.

Tate hurried to the other side of the table. He hadn’t been expecting the two officers to agree, so he was going to make the most of this chance. He hugged both adults tightly, just as they hugged him in a quick group hug before they were forced to separate.

“Is breá liom tú1. Be good,” Katie said to him as Andy got one last hair ruffle in.

“I will. Tá mé i ngrá leat freisin, Mammy.2”

“And don’t let anyone bully you about this, tuiscint3?” Andy asked before they were each led away.

“Yes!” Tate replied.

As Mr. Coelho led his boys away, Shawn asked, “What was that you guys were saying?”

“Just Irish stuff,” Tate replied before another court officer led them to a side exit away from all of the cameras.

“Okay. Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things: As I have previously stated, I don't know what happens in criminal court proceedings, especially when there's a child witness involved. Something I decided on, but did not address, is that Katie and Andy have been teaching Tate little bits of Irish Gaelic in their letters, and he has been watching videos online as well in order to get better at the language. I'm not 100% certain about pronunciations, so I will not attempt it.  
> Translations:  
> 1) I love you.  
> 2) I love you, too, Mommy.  
> 3.) Understand?


	15. The Last Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the last day of the trial!

As can happen with good-looking, Bonny-and-Clyde-type criminals who unofficially adopt abandoned children during a crime spree, the trial of the “Irish Bandits” was followed closely in various parts of the world. So of course there was going to be an Irish-speaking journalist at the trial. And of course they were going to end up over-hearing the short exchange between the three.

“ I can’t believe it!” Shawn yelled as he read the article Becca showed him.

“And it’s not just this blog. It’s been picked up by a bunch of news groups, too,” she told the Coelhos.

Tate peered at the tablet in Shawn’s hand. The article’s headline read:

> **Irish Bandits Have Family Moment**
> 
> Katherine Jane O’Brien and Andrew Patrick McLeary, the Irish nationals currently on trial in San Bernardino County, California for a string of armed robberies of gas stations and convenience stores, were overheard having a quiet moment with the 9-year-old boy they informally adopted after rescuing from abandonment. In this moment, it came to light to those around that the pair have taught the boy, whose name cannot be released due to his age, Irish Gaelic, the traditional language of Ireland. During the exchange, O’Brien and the boy were overheard by this reporter saying “I love you,” with the boy even calling her “Mammy,” which is the same as calling someone “Mom” in America. McLeary, meanwhile, gave the boy some fatherly advice before the group was forced to separate…

There was more, but Shawn handed the tablet over to Mrs. Coelho before Tate could finish reading. He felt upset that, what should have been a quiet moment with the people he considered his parents, had instead become someone’s “scoop” (he had learned about these things when the media circus had first started up).

“Did you read some of those comments? People want that journo’s blood!” Shenae added as she pointed out some of the more blood-thirsty comments to their parents.

“Oh, dear,” Mrs. C said as she read some of them.

“Well, at least the good news is that the public is rooting for them, right?” Shawn asked.

“We’ll see,” Mr. C replied. “The court of public opinion is even more finicky than most people think.”

"But if it helps..?" Tate asked.

"The judge has the jury sequestered. There's a chance that they haven't seen this yet," he answered.

* * *

"Today is the last day in the trial against Katherine O'Brien and Andrew McLeary otherwise known as the 'Irish Bandits.' There is quite the crowd turned out today, hoping to get into the courtroom..." a reporter was heard saying into their microphone as the assembled Coelho clan walked into the courthouse.

"All these people are here for my parents?" Tate asked in wonder.

"Looks like," Xavi said as the courthouse officer walked them to the courtroom.

"You might wanna keep your voice down, Tatertot," Shenae told Tate. "You don't want one of these journos to stick their microphone in your face.

Shenae had more experience with journalists than the others, after her dad was sent to prison and the media decided that the then-12-year-old made the perfect poster girl for anti-street racing.

"You should listen to Shenae, Tate. She knows what she's saying," Mr. C told him.

Inside the courtroom, it was slightly more peaceful. There were more reporters in the room than there had been at the beginning of the trial. The group was led to the front row, just behind the defendants' seats, where they would be able to sit without too many people seeing Tate's face. A rogue blogger had attempted to break into the Office of Family Services to fin out where Tate was living, only to be arrested less than 10 minutes later. He hadn't been able to get any information, but the increased police presence in their neighborhood and around Tate's school had frightened the boy. Even Katie & Andy's correspondence hadn't been immune to the reporters and bloggers angling for anything that would give them an edge. In the six months since the trial had started, 19 people had been arrested for various offenses as they tried to get any information they could on Tate.

A mutual friend of Katie and Andy had even offered to ask her uncle for a favor to "take care" of the problem people.

"You can't ask your Uncle Dougal! He's a bomb-maker!" Katie had quietly exclaimed when Siobhán had suggested it.

"So?"

"So, people who AREN'T trying to get info on my boy would get hurt! I can't have that on my conscious!" she hissed to her friend.

"Okay then, I won't call Uncle Dougal. So how are you getting on?" and with that, their conversation had turned to other things, like Tate.

In the courtroom, Tate found himself seated next to Siobhán.

"Hey there, Tate-o," she said to him as he got himself situated.

"Hi, Miss Siobhán," he answered.

"When are you going to stop calling me 'Miss' and start calling me 'Auntie'?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, let me know when you're ready. I have lots of making up to you to do in the Auntie department," she told him before looking to the Coelhos on his other side. "With your fosters' permission, of course."

"As long as it's safe and legal," Mrs. Coelho told her. Katie had warned her that Siobhán could be a bit "rambunctious."

Before anything more could be said, the court officer called for everyone to rise and the judge came in. The day was quickly started.

 

 


End file.
